New Technology Reviews!.: Legacy

Sprint may not extend equipment protection plan to iPhone 4S

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
 
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;">
<div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;">
<img alt="" border="0" class="aligncenter" height="203" mce_src="http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/359/sprintep.jpg" src="http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/359/sprintep.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="274" /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
A leaked Sprint slide suggests the wireless carrier will not be offering its Total Equipment Protection plans for the iPhone 4S. Customers with an iPhone 4S who want to add a protection plan to their phone are encouraged to purchase an AppleCare+ plan. These new plans from Apple offer accidental damage on top of the traditional coverage for $99. You can also purchase a third party plan from a company like Square Trade or through your homeowners or renters insurance. The wording "not sold at launch" on the slide also leaves open the possibility that Sprint my change its mind and open up the TEP plans some time after launch.</div>
</div>
</div>

Sprint may not extend equipment protection plan to iPhone 4S

A leaked Sprint slide suggests the wireless carrier will not be offering its Total Equipment Protection plans for the iPhone 4S. Custo...

The 3D world of Tron: Legacy

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/images/tron/TRON_Legacylogo-200-200.jpg"> The original Tron, released back in 1982, was famously prophetic. Not only did it foreshadow a vision of the internet as a (badly dressed, game obsessed) community, back when the term broadband hadn't even been coined, it also ushered in a bold new era of visual effects. Now decades later, the Tron universe has been rebooted with the spectacular Tron Legacy, a dizzying audiovisual techno-mash of a movie. To learn more Tech Radar caught up with director Joe Kosinski on the London leg of Tron Legacy's European launch tour. <img alt="Tron: legacy" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/TRON_Legacylogo-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> Lightcycle not bandwagon Tron Legacy is a film infused with pioneering technology. It's the first 3D movie to integrate a photorealistic digital head and body into the cast, the first to partner with a videogame company (Electronic Arts) for motion capture and the first to utilise self-illuminating suits, powered by batteries hidden in the character's backpack LED Light discs. But for most movie-goers, the headline technology for the bigscreen blockbuster will be its use of 3D. In many respects, the film picks up where Avatar left off, both in terms of vision and technology. Joe Kosinski says that the Tron sequel is not another movie jumping the 3D bandwagon. He says it was always conceived as a cutting-edge 3D movie: "Yes, from the very beginning, three years ago; two years before Avatar was even released, we were committed to making a fully 3D movie, shot with the Cameron Fusion system." <img alt="Joseph kosinski" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/Joseph%20Kosinski%20premiere-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> Discipline 3D film-making was a discipline Kosinski was keen to explore, despite the technical challenges it posed. "3D cameras are big and heavy and when you're shooting in 3D there are a lot of extra variables to take into account," says Kosinski, "but it it's a really nice option to have with this kind of movie, because it allows you to immerse your audience in a very different way." Although the audience is required to wear 3D glasses throughout, the movie only shifts into 3D when Garrett Hedlund, the son of missing computer genius Jeff Bridges, is transported to the digital world of the Grid. "We've gone for a Wizard of Oz approach, the 3D really starts when we get into the Grid," he says. Consequently, its use of 3D doesn't feel like marketing hype. It serves the story. While viewers have become familiar with the tricks and conceits of digital movie-making over the past few years, Tron Legacy still manages to surprise. The reappearance of CLU, in the form of a younger digital version of Jeff Bridges, is one scene-stealer. The first photorealistic 3D digital character based on a living actor, CLU is a remarkable step up from the digital renders of Tom Hanks (Polar Express) and Jim Carrey (A Christmas Carol). The director says he hope the majority of popcorn munchers won't even realise that CLU is a digital character. "I hope they consider him real," he says. "It's hard to keep secrets with the way the internet works; everyone knows everything or they're trying to find out about all the behind the scenes stuff." <img alt="CLU" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/CLU%203-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> A different kind of 3D Tron Legacy is far from another cookie-cutter 3D yarn. Kosinski, who cut his teeth on videogame TV commercials for Gears of War and Halo, has clearly endeavoured to do something rather fresh with his 3D lens. Rather than keep everything sharp to infinity, the director has mixed parallax effects with conventional compositions using selective focus. Not only is this technique eye-catching when used in the third dimension, it'll doubtless serve the film well when it's viewed in conventional 2D. Also distinctive is a striking use of top-downward looking shots, which mix height and depth to create an unsettling POV. "Predominantly, most of the movie occurs behind the scene (in positive parallax). The 3D is meant to be an immersive experience, to pull you into it. But isn't it weird how those vertical shots have that much more effect?" says Kosinski."For some reason, I figured out really early that if you're looking out across a landscape in 3D it's one thing, but as soon as you get the camera up and look down - even if you have the same 3D settings - it triggers a sense of . . . vertigo. The top down shots have so much more depth to them. So once I realised this, it was fun to look for moments when it made sense to shoot like that." <img alt="Tron - the suits" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/Lighted%20suit-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> Keeping it real The director says that for all Tron Legacy's CG elements, if the 3D was going to work it had to be grounded within actual sets made of glass, concrete and steel, and shot on real cameras. This hyper-reality philosophy extended to the creation of the movie's futuristic vehicles. "We actually built all the cockpits for the car and the jets," lead Vehicle designer Daniel Simon told Tech Radar, "so that the actors could perfectly interact with everything. They could sit in the cockpit of the Light Runner (a Grid racer which morphs into an off-roader when needs must), turn the ignition key and have everything light up beautifully; they could turn the wheel and even click the gear shifter. All the rest is 3D graphics. It's so important for the actors to hold onto something; otherwise the onscreen world is just not believable." <img alt="Lightcycle" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/Light%20Cycle%202-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> 2D to 3D conversions Despite the complexity of the project, director Joe Kiniski says he never considered shooting Tron Legacy flat and dimensionalising it in post production. 'I'm not a big fan of converted movies, it's just a cheap way out" he tells us, making a clear reference to Clash Of The Titans. "Converted movies often aren't even meant to be done in 3D, they try and convert them after the fact for marketing reasons. Tron Legacy was shot and conceived in 3D, every step of the way." Ultimately, he believes it's the audiences themselves which will put paid to faux 3D movie conversions. "I think there's a little bit of resistance to converted 2D now. Audiences are getting savvy; they can tell the difference between a 2D-to-3D conversion and a real 3D movie. This is why I'm trying to get the word out that this film was shot in, and meant to be seen in, 3D." However, the director concedes that the format doesn't "make sense for every movie. It does take more time and money to do it right." <img alt="Tron: legacy" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/Light%20Cycle%20duel-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> The IMAX cut Perhaps the ultimate 3D Tron Legacy experience is to be had at Imax cinemas. A larger-than-life special edition of the movie has been produced for these theatres, which combine 3D projection system with the IMAX's larger-than-decent screen size. "There are seven sequences in this film that have been digitally re-worked for IMAX," reveals Joe. "When you see the movie in an IMAX theatre you're going to get extra image area at the top and bottom of the frame, so that it really fills your vision." The director reveals that the re-rendered IMAX sequences total 43 minutes of the movie's running time. "We're now talking with Disney about doing an IMAX version on the Blu-ray," confides Kosinski. "If you pick that version, those seven sequences will expand from 2.35:1 to fill your entire television. It should be pretty cool." <img alt="Tron's key cast members" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/Jeff%20Bridges%20Olivia%20Wilde%20and%20Joseph%20Kosinski-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG>

The 3D world of Tron: Legacy

The original Tron, released back in 1982, was famously prophetic. Not only did it foreshadow a vision of the internet as a (badly dressed, g...

TRON: Legacy gets its very own interactive halfpipe (video)

<DIV class=separator style="CLEAR: both; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1hnd9ThQrFDJ3loH3t_iEjqaW0FSpEaenFp5OhCGIsy9ph_m1XSE0euz7b3HTUmHF-AxltHNBGhcA4JVwpWled0vSwzfDTyUK_LUkfS1qO_0agOtp4sYkwyfPSAr_AlqRKLnJv_bXdWs/s1600/tronskate-1292538010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1em; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1hnd9ThQrFDJ3loH3t_iEjqaW0FSpEaenFp5OhCGIsy9ph_m1XSE0euz7b3HTUmHF-AxltHNBGhcA4JVwpWled0vSwzfDTyUK_LUkfS1qO_0agOtp4sYkwyfPSAr_AlqRKLnJv_bXdWs/s320/tronskate-1292538010.jpg" width="320"></A></DIV> Look, y'all know that TRON: Legacy comes out in just a few painful hours.You've probably seen those Daft Punk headphones, a blue-glowy Razer mouse, and the obligatory armchair, among other insane promotional items. But those earthly objects definitely weren't enough to fulfill the geeky capacity of the branding opportunities that such a cinematic event -- nay, spectacle -- creates. Melbourne-based interactive design company Eness went ahead and built an interactive projection-mapped skate ramp to commemorate the premiere. The Aussies who got to shred in this thing created and destroyed light trails, exploded through galaxies of color and shapes piped straight from the Grid, and had their airtime measured in real time and projected onto the ramp. It's not quite a real-life light cycle battle, but we'll take it. Must-see video after the jump.

TRON: Legacy gets its very own interactive halfpipe (video)

Look, y'all know that TRON: Legacy comes out in just a few painful hours.You've probably seen those Daft Punk headphones, a blue-glo...

The technology of Tron: Legacy

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tron: legacy - a tech marvel" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/Composition-420-90.jpg" width="420" /></div> 
 
<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=latesttecompu-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B004EI3ON4&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Disney's Tron was a visionary movie. Although released back in 1982 and constrained by the technology of the day, it presaged a universe of artificial intelligence and photorealistic video gaming that seems astoundingly prescient. Writer/director Steven Lisberger's movie may have been a box office fail of the day, but it's become emblematic of cyber chic ever since. 
Tron's belated sequel, Tron Legacy, is a movie of similar technological significance. From its creation of a photorealistic 3D digital cast member (how many moviegoers will fail to realise that the head of the younger Jeff Bridges is fully digital?) to characters dressed in fetishistic moulded costumes created by digital sculpture technology, it's a film which drips futurism. In short, this is our kinda movie. 
In at the geek end 
 
Given the cutting edge nature of the production, from creating a digital Jeff Bridges to reinventing the hardware of the grid, Tron Legacy is probably not the kind of project that you'd expect to give to a novice director. But that's exactly what the Disney Studio executives did. 
But then Joe Kosinski does come to bat with some excellent tech credentials. Although new to feature-length motion pictures, Kosinski has an impressive track record of FX heavy commercial work behind him. He helmed the Xbox 360 promo for Gears of War (involving a hugely cinematic sequence involving a mo-cap soldier and gigantic monster, all set to Gary Jules' Mad World), as well as creating the Halo 3 'Starry Night' ad and Nike's futuristic Les Jumelles. Kosinski, it seems, was always destined to visit the Grid. 
"I knew I had to be ambitious with this movie," the director told Tech Radar when we caught up with him at the London Tron Legacy premiere. "The first movie pushed the envelope in so many ways, and if nothing else I wanted to really go for it, in both the visual style and the technology we were using." 
Improving on James Cameron's 3D 
The end result is a breathless mix of live action and photo realistic animation, which embraces every type of hi-tech movie making discipline: blue screen, motion capture and 3D. So did the director invent anything new in the process? 
"You know, I think we did," he tells us. "We improved, or evolved, the Fusion 3D camera system James Cameron developed for Avatar, as well as developing newer lenses, and we also invented a new type of costume in the shape of the Tron Lightsuits." 
<img alt="Tron suits" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/Lighted%20suit-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> 
Kosinski says that he wanted the suits worn by the denizens of the Grid to be real rather than CG. "It was very complicated to get the batteries, electroluminescent lights, the inverters and the remote controls built into these suits - but they were definitely a huge innovation." 
Give us a CLU 
Perhaps Tron Legacy's biggest tech achievement is the creation of CLU, a digital recreation of the young Jeff Bridges. Left to rule the Tron universe since the first movie, CLU is first photorealistic 3D digital character based on living actor in film history. 
"That was probably the most ambitious thing we attempted," concedes the director. "Creating a digital human is the hardest thing you can do in visual effects." 
<img alt="CLU" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/CLU%203-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> 
CLU represents an evolution of the aging technology first used on (The curious case of) Benjamin Button. Kosinski says that he never doubted that his VFX artists could pull it off. Having worked as part of the Benjamin Button visual effects team, he was always confident that it was possible to create a convincing digital character. 
For CLU, Jeff Bridges donned an innovative helmet mounted camera system (HMC) able to track 52 facial markers. A 3D scan of Bridges' face with corresponding points, augmented by photographs taken of the actor when he was in his thirties, reflected every nuance of his performance, bringing to life the younger Bridges in the digital domain. 
The big breakthrough, says Kosinski, was that Bridges could wear the HMC (Helmet Mounted Camera) on set, interacting with others in each scene. 
"That was the big improvement we made (over Benjamin Button)," says Kosinski. "Previously, it would have to been done after the fact, in another setting. It was really exciting to see Jeff playing CLU on set with Michael Sheen. When I saw that all coming together, I got pretty excited." 
The look of Tron legacy 
Production designer Darren Gilford says the idea was always for Tron Legacy to stay true to the spirit of the original movie. "The first film had an iconic look which was basically created by a limitation of what they could do with computers in the Eighties. 
It was very geometric, very simplistic. With the technology we have now, it's limitless what we can do." But rather than change the Atari aesthetic of the original, Gilford and his team simply softened some of the shapes. 
"We definitely tried to maintain those basic Tron geometric shapes," he says. 
<img alt="Tron: legacy" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/TRON_Legacylogo-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> 
On your bike 
Futuristic vehicles have long been a key part of the Tron mythology - and none are more iconic than the Lightcycles. The vehicles return for the sequel, of course, only this time the bikes have been pimped and their manoeuvring skills have been improved. 
One highlight of the film features a duel between ten Lightcycles on a multi-level grid. With dazzling high-speed choreography it's a challenge to keep up with the action, made all the more spellbinding by the film's 3D presentation. 
The man charged with evolving these wheels is Daniel Simon, who joined the Tron Legacy team in 2008. "I was working on my on car designs, doing some work for Bugati in Berlin, when I received an email from director Joe Kosinski," he tells Tech Radar when we catch up with him on the London Junket. "I thought: how the hell did he find my email address?" 
<img alt="Light cycle" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/Light%20Cycle%20duel-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> 
Simon says that the key to the designing fantasy tech like the Lightcycles is to keep them grounded in reality. "You can't go crazy because then it becomes too surreal. If you look back at the first movie, that's what happened," he says. 
"Tron was so ahead of its time, so quirky and surreal, that many people could not connect to it. Sure it foresaw the future, the internet and everything, but we wanted to create a piece of mainstream entertainment with Legacy. We had a lot of crazy ideas, but we ditched many of them to be more realistic." 
Simon adds that he pushed new vehicle concepts as far "as I could, then snapped back and found ground somewhere in the middle. It doesn't make sense to create the weirdest looking hyper bikes, that are half virtual and half floating because then people cannot relate to them. 
Right now, little boys dream of a lightcycle because they can see themselves thundering off on one after school." 
<img alt="Tron: legacy - light cycles" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tron/Light%20Cycle%202-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> 
"It's kind of dangerous to be too visionary," he adds. "If it's too hardcore, the technology takes away from the spirit and the action. So we are a little bit more lightweight on this one. However, we think the designs will stand the test of time. We hope people don't look back and say, that movie was soooo 2010."

The technology of Tron: Legacy

Disney's Tron was a visionary movie. Although released back in 1982 and constrained by the technology of the day, it presaged a univer...

Tron: Legacy - the Total Film review

<img alt="Tron" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/tr2n-logo-good-img-420-90.jpg" width="420"> One of the first UK reviews of Disney's new 3D Tron Legacy is in from our colleagues over at Total Film magazine, with the mag giving the latest 3D Hollywood blockbuster a thumbs up. Tron: Legacy is out on 18 December in the UK, just in time for taking the whole family on an outing to the local multiplex over the holidays. And the verdict from Total Film is that it is certainly "not going to one of those movies that gives 3D a bad name." </IMG> Just gorgeous to gawp at We return to the world of the hacker-turned-cyberman Kevin Flynn superbly played by Jeff Bridges, in this new title from debut director Joe Kosinksi. "Tron Legacy is just gorgeous to gawp at," notes Total Film's review. "Hypnotic shots of [Kevin's son] Sam slaloming a Ducati motorbike between cars on a freeway at night take us to Encom, the corporation once headed by Kevin." "Upgraded in breathtaking style by Kosinski's team, this stormy, apocalyptic city is a fearful, magnificent world of dark space, reflective surface and searing light. It's stunning, seductive and uniquely Tron." Also of special mention is Daft Punk's score, which "paints its own sombre, synthy soundscapes, pumping vibe and life into cold, hard surfaces of Tron's world." You can read the full, detailed review of the new Tron: Legacy right now over at <a href="http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/tron-legacy">TotalFilm.com</A>

Tron: Legacy - the Total Film review

One of the first UK reviews of Disney's new 3D Tron Legacy is in from our colleagues over at Total Film magazine, with the mag giving t...

Tron: Legacy star slams 3D tech

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/images/tr2n-logo-good-img-200-200.jpg"> Tron: Legacy is out in glorious 3D later this very month, although its leading lady doesn't seem to be that taken with new 3D cinema tech. Olivia Wilde, Tron: Legacy's leggy star is every geek's ultimate wet dream, yet she remains unconvinced that 3D is the way forward for every movie. <img alt="Tron 3d" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/images/Tron3D-420-90.jpg" title="Tron 3d" width="420"></IMG> Sub-standard 3D from Tinseltown Wilde told our colleagues over at T3 earlier this week that she is unconvinced by the flood of sub-standard 3D flicks coming out of Tinseltown at the moment. The Tron star told <a href="http://www.t3.com/">T3</A> prior to the UK premiere of Tron: Legacy: "Although I do think that certain stories warrant the 3D technique, the effect, I think certain stories don't." As a quick disclaimer she added: "Maybe I'm wrong and maybe I'm just not grasping that 3D is like the advent of colour in film, just expanding the medium and I should embrace that fully." One generation beyond Avatar However, as far as the new Tron film goes, alongside the stunning Daft Punk soundtrack, Wilde is more than sure that the latest 3D projection technology "makes sense for this film…the 3D is the most advanced 3D camera every used, it is one generation beyond the AVATAR camera." Wilde added: "We are also very proud to be a film that was actually shot in 3D, a lot of films are converted in post-production which I think never quite works as well and audiences becoming quite apt at telling the difference." Wilde was excited about working with 3D movie makers, telling T3: "I did kind of enjoy looking into the camera some times and just marvelling at what you can see with all these mirrors inside the lens, I thought that was pretty cool. "Being so used to knowing what the inside of a lens looks like from being in front of it for a lot of my life so far, looking into it and seeing this whole other complex world inside was kind of cool." Tron: Legacy releases across the UK on December 18. If that isn't a good enough excuse to drag the whole family to the local multiplex this Christmas, we really don't know what is.

Tron: Legacy star slams 3D tech

Tron: Legacy is out in glorious 3D later this very month, although its leading lady doesn't seem to be that taken with new 3D cinema te...